Chapter 155.1
7 min read ·
After taking a brief rest to replenish the magic power consumed by the Tracking Magic, Turan mounted Bije and immediately pursued those who had attacked Ophen.
At the moment he discovered the enemy, he did not intend to attack them right away.
After all, there were only two of them here, and he had no idea how many enemies there could be on the other side.
It would have been sufficient to simply sneak closer, obtain a few mediums that could continue the tracking, and then retreat.
However, upon arrival, he found that the enemy’s forces were far weaker than he had anticipated.
Three royal mermaids, a few middling nobles, and hundreds of ordinary humans......
Apparently, the signal fire that said human wizards were involved in the attack was merely because there was a battleship present.
It was obvious to anyone that such forces could hardly have any significance.
He had assumed that a human force allied with the Great Sea Serpent had occupied Ophen and had brought other nobles to support, but seeing the situation now, he briefly regretted not simply bringing Meisa along too.
However, the regret lasted only a moment. Turan set down Armania at a distance, then approached under Concealment together with Bije to attempt an attack.
If he shot the newly acquired weapon, the Railgun, at a slight angle, he would be able to eliminate only the mermaids without harming the civilians inside the battleship.
The only thing he had not anticipated was that the mermaids could somehow detect the signs and magnetism of the Railgun.
Because of the mermaids who suddenly transformed into Great Sea Serpents, the battleship was crushed in an instant, and although they were injured to some degree, the enemies managed to flee safely into the sea.
Turan clicked his tongue in frustration for a brief moment, but he soon decided to continue pursuing them.
Three of them would be a manageable challenge, and more than anything, the image of Ophen that he had seen moments ago filled his mind.
Though it was not a place he felt as much attachment to as Kalamaf, it was still a city belonging to Parsha's name, a city he had to protect.
The vivid scene of it collapsed, with over thousands dead, still lingered in his memory.
[Let's go.]
Sending his voice on the wind across several kilometers, he called to Armania, who then transformed into a Great Sea Serpent and headed toward their kin.
Upon the appearance of the traitor they had been desperatly seeking, the three Great Sea Serpents chose to abandon retreat and charged toward Armania, and the four of them soon entangled fiercely in the deep sea.
Meanwhile, Turan activated the Carmine Bloodline, rode the currents closer, and drew a long sword from his pouch.
He approached the relatively heavily injured Great Sea Serpent’s head and thrust the sword in.
[Aaaaaaah-!]
In the dark sea, the Great Sea Serpent, completely caught off guard, screamed as its weak spot was struck.
Only then did the other Great Sea Serpents realize Turan’s presence, twisting their bodies and illuminating the dark night sea brightly.
“Ugh.”
It was unlikely that simply turning into a Great Sea Serpent would grant such abilities, so how exactly?
Though confused, Turan quickly deactivated Concealment and manipulated the surrounding water to pull himself away.
A Great Sea Serpent's gaping maw passed right where he had been.
The one who had failed in his attack glared at Turan and shouted.
[You swore not to fight against us!]
[That was when you were not harming humans, especially those I protect.]
Just like he would send his voice on the wind on land, Turan wrapped his words in a bubble of water and launched it toward the enemy.
The Great Sea Serpent mermaid, hearing this, replied in a bewildered tone, as if unable to understand.
[The humans in the west had nothing to do with you, and even in the port we destroyed as a warning, only a few thousand died. So why.......]
Before he could ask if Turan could afford to make an enemy of them, Armania clamped down on his neck with a bite.
The two other Great Sea Serpents tried to fend off Armania by biting into his body, but because they were already in poor condition, their attacks lacked force.
While the four tangled together, Turan approached one of the Great Sea Serpents clinging to Armania and reached out his hand.
Instantly, a mass of ice grew around its long body.
[Aaagh!]
The ability granted by the Carmine Bloodline was control over water and cold.
Originally, seawater was harder to freeze than freshwater, but for a powerful wizard like Turan, that was hardly a constraint.
What he created was not a simple mass of ice that merely slowed down the body.
On the outside, it was a cylindrical structure encasing the body, but on the inside, it was a torture device studded with hundreds of sharp blades.
It was a technique of shaping water into ice that required mastery at the extreme, a level of skill that only a very few among the Carmine nobility could achieve.
[Get it off!]
The ice blades, infused with mighty magic power, shredded the tough scales of the Great Sea Serpent and tore into its tender flesh.
Although it was not a life-threatening blow, given how resilient the creature was, pain tends to feel exaggerated beyond what is real.
Having thus half-disabled one of the Great Sea Serpents, Turan, just as Onil had done in the past, shaped a massive ice whip and struck another relatively unscathed Great Sea Serpent.
Just like a master disciplining a beast that defied his will.
At that point, the Great Sea Serpents realized they were at a disadvantage and that continuing the fight could lead to their deaths, so they decided to flee.
The groups split into three directions: northwest, north, and northeast.
Turan, with only a brief exchange of glances with Armania, decided which one each of them would pursue.
*
“Where is the Family Head?”
“Don’t tell me we are too late......”
In front of the harbor of Ophen, now turned into ruins.
The Parsha army, led by Meisa, looked around anxiously.
Upon hearing news of a major attack, they had rushed there in haste, only to find the city reduced to rubble, and the Family Head, who should have arrived a day earlier after setting out alone, nowhere to be seen.
It was only natural for them to feel worried.
However, unlike the others, Meisa stood calmly, merely looking up at the sky.
“Does anyone know who exactly attacked?”
“I don’t know, I just heard it was the enemy.”
“Maybe we should have asked Solif for help after all.”
“If Meisa said it was fine, what could we do?”
The truth about the Jade Mirror that connected Parsha and Varaha, and its location, was known only to the topmost members of the two families.
The dozen or so mid-to-upper-ranking nobles gathered here knew only that there was a way to cross space to Varaha.
But soon enough, they understood why Meisa had not been disturbed.
“Oh.”
"Is that... could it be...?"
With the sound of water rushing, something began to rise from the sea to the land.
Seeing the massive bodies of Great Sea Serpents, the Parsha nobles were startled and instinctively began preparing attack spells, but soon realized they were looking at lifeless corpses.
The sight of seawater lifting the dead bodies of two huge Great Sea Serpents onto the shore was almost epic.
Atop them rode two figures: their revered Family Head Turan and an unidentified guest, Arn.
"You're here."
"There are only two? Didn't you say there were three?"
"One got away. It was fast."
Turan casually conversed with Meisa as he unloaded the Great Sea Serpents' corpses onto the shore.
The reason she could remain calm was that she had already heard some information through the hand mirror from Turan.
Although she had not been able to hear all the details due to conserving magic power and the rush of pursuit.
As the two landed, Meisa approached and brushed off Armania’s head, asking,
“Are you hurt?”
“I got a little hurt, but then...... Turan healed me.”
At Armania’s words, the Parsha wizards behind them opened their eyes wide in surprise.
Those words sounded as if this boy had fought alongside Turan against the Great Sea Serpents!